Ellis v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co.
| Decision Date | 06 March 1928 |
| Docket Number | No. 19945.,19945. |
| Citation | 3 S.W.2d 397 |
| Parties | ELLIS v. METROPOLITAN LIFE INS. CO. OF NEW YORK (Ford, Interpleader). |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
Action by Anna May Ellis against the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company of New York, in which Laura Ford, administratrix of the estate of Albert Ford, deceased, interpleaded. Judgment requiring defendant insurance company to pay certain money into court and ordering it to be paid to Laura Ford, as administratrix, and plaintiff brings error. Reversed and remanded, with directions.
John A. Davis and S. E. Garner, both of St. Louis, for plaintiff in error.
Walter R. Mayne, of St. Louis, for defendant in error.
Marsalek, Stahlhuth & Godfrey, of St. Louis, for interpleader in error.
This is an action instituted by Anna May Ellis against the Metropolitan Insurance Company on an insurance policy issued by it on the life of Albert Ford. The insurance company filed an answer admitting that it issued the policy in question on the life of Albert Ford, and defending on the ground that Laura Ford, the mother of the said insured, had presented to said company a copy of her letters of administration as administratrix of the estate of said insured, deceased, together with due proof of death, and had made demand on said company for the proceeds of the policy, and that said plaintiff, Anna May Ellis, had also made demand for the proceeds of the policy, and requesting the court to order said Laura Ford, administratrix, to interplead in said cause. In due course said Laura Ford, administratrix, filed her answer and interpleader.
On the trial of the case to the chancellor, plaintiff, Anna May Ellis, adduced several witnesses. The insurance company offered no evidence, and the defendant, Laura Ford, administratrix, contented herself with proof of her appointment as administratrix of the estate of Albert Ford, deceased. A judgment resulted requiring the insurance company to turn over to the registry of the court $623 and stand discharged, with a dismissal of plaintiff's bill, and further ordered the fund paid over to Laura Ford, administratrix, after deducting all costs. Anna May Ellis, plaintiff, in due course appealed, which appeal she thereafter voluntarily dismissed and later sued out this writ of error.
The assignment of error here urged is that the judgment of the trial court was for the wrong party, and that the court erred in directing the clerk to pay over to the administratrix the proceeds of the policy in question.
An examination of the record before us has brought us to the conclusion that the contention of the plaintiff in error is correct. The policy in question is what is termed an industrial policy and, according to its terms, upon the death of the insured is payable upon receipt of proof of the death of the insured, and upon surrender of the policy and evidence of premium payments, to the executor or administrator of the insured unless payment be made under provisions of a facility of payment clause, which provides that the company may make payment provided therein to the husband or wife or any relative by blood or connection by marriage of the insured, or to any other person appearing to said company to be equitably entitled to the same by reason of having incurred expenses on behalf of the insured, or for his or her burial, and that the production of a receipt signed by either of said persons, or of other proof of such payment to either of them, shall be conclusive evidence that all claims under its policy have been satisfied.
The record discloses that Albert Ford, in April, 1921, moved into the home of Anna May Ellis, plaintiff below, agreeing to pay Mrs. Ellis $7.50 per week for his room, board, and laundry work; that Ford continued to live at the Ellis home until August, 1924; that throughout said period Ford had little or no employment and paid nothing to Mrs. Ellis for his room, board, and laundry work; that in the early part of May, 1923, Ford, through Harry Alter, an agent of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, made written application for a policy of insurance, and that the said company issued the industrial policy on the life of said Ford herein sued on; that in said written application for insurance Ford requested that Mrs. Ellis be named his...
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